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Tuesday, May 6, 2014

The Internet is full of great advice about how to sell a book, but what about after the sale? When my first book came out, I found it was surprisingly hard to find answers to some basic questions. Like most authors, I learned most of the answers through trial and error. And so in anticipation of the launch of my new novel, The Night Gardener, I’ve decided to write down everything I learned so I don’t make the same mistakes twice!

AFTER THE BOOK DEAL is a month-long blog series detailing the twenty things I wish someone had told me before entering the exciting world of children’s publishing. Each weekday from now until MAY 20, I will be posting an article on a different blog. Follow along and please spread the word!

Back to the Grindstone – How and When to Start Your Next Novel

Yesterday we talked about how reviews (good and bad) can sometimes hurt the creative process, today we’ll look at how and when to start your second book.

Second books are notoriously tricky. A quick Google search of “second novel syndrome” yields thousands of discouraging results. In the spirit of this blog series, I’ll use my own experience to frame the advice I have about sophomore slumps.

So When Should You Start Your Next Book?

My knee-jerk reaction is to say AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! After publishing Peter Nimble, I spent nine months on the road visiting schools and festivals all over the country. There is no question that those events made a difference in the success of the book (15 months after pub, we were still selling strong hardcover numbers!), but that effort came at a price. At the end of my debut year, I found myself staring at a literal blank page for my next book.

Not only was the page blank, but I was creatively paralyzed. I had so many voices from reviewers/readers/editors/friends in my head that I could hardly think. Even though I had an idea of what I wanted to write, every word I put down felt somehow compromised—like I was writing for someone else’s approval rather than some internal need. For me, at least, this was a recipe for disaster: after months of daily writing, I had only four good pages.

During this same period, I made a point of talking to veteran authors about their second books. That’s when I realized my first big mistake: Almost every other author had written a draft of their second book before their debut came out. Even if that first draft was ugly, it meant that when they resumed writing, they weren’t working from a blank page. It also meant that when interviewers asked “what’s next?” they actually had an exciting answer!

So how did I beat the slump? Well, I did a few different things that ended up working ...

Skip the Line

Eventually I concluded that my work-in-progress was never going to be written. After painful months of struggle, I put the manuscript aside and moved on to something completely new: The Night Gardener. My new-second book wasn’t instantly magical, nor was it easy—but at least I was free from all the voices and baggage associated with earlier failure. Slowly, as the months went by, I started writing pages that I actually wanted to keep. And after about 18 months, I had an entire manuscript.

Change Gears

One reason I think that the new-second book was easier to write was that it was very different from my debut. The Night Gardener is a spooky story about two children trapped in a cursed house ... very different from the silly, fantastical high-seas adventure of Peter Nimble. The books are almost impossible to compare to one another, which, as it turned out, is hugely liberating. (Bounus: people who were only so-so on my first book, have LOVED this new one ... so maybe changing up my game was a good thing!)

Fast Then Slow

The biggest benefit of getting out of my head was that it finally let me sit down and just write the dang thing. Instead of painstakingly crafting sentences, I just made quick notes (using: option + command + A) in the margins to fix later and KEPT ON WRITING.

Please note that I am not suggesting you should rush to publish your second—only that you should get a draft down early. After that, I think it’s permissible (and maybe even preferable) to slow down and take your time in revision. We’ve all read those tragic novels that could have been great ... had they not been so obviously rushed.

For me and the way my brain works, careful revision is essential. (Case in point: I actually ended up cutting over 16 pages from the arc of The Night Gardener.) Of course, if you’re one of those authors who can write quickly, go for it! But never let the pressures of publication force you to release a book into the world before it’s ready.

That’s it for AFTER THE BOOK DEAL! Tomorrow we’ll be talking about the tricky world of money management for authors. You can catch up on previous posts (listed below), and please-oh-please spread the word!

1 comment:

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Welcome to The Compulsive Reader!

Formerly a YA book blog, TheCompulsiveReader.com is now the personal bookish blog of YA writer Tirzah Price! For more frequent dispatches about books, writing, and general nonsense, check out Book Riot, head over to Twitter or follow TirzahPrice on Litsy!